More Enjoyable Handball

Joe Higgins famously compared questioning Bertie Ahern to playing handball against a haystack. A major reason for Ahern's success is that eventually the Opposition more or less gave up the attempt to pin him down.

Against this background, Wednesday's ruckus in the Dail and the various mutterings about our new Taoiseach's dictatorial tendencies look to me to be good news for the Opposition. Cowen leads with his chin - often in a most obnoxious fashion - in a way that is refreshing after 10 years of Bertie-speak, but which risks being caught with a clever upper-cut. Opposing politicians are a bit out of practice, but sooner or later they will re-discover the art of traditional debate.

It is gratifying to again have a lawyer heading our government, but I reserve judgement on Mr Cowen. He is articulate and intelligent, but I have not yet detected significant political skills.

One thing about Cowen that repels me is his facility (which other ministers have been slipping into also) for contemptuous and rather juvenile put-downs of Enda Kenny. I have never been a fan of the FG leader but this sort of attempted humiliation of him for his short-comings tells one more about the person uttering it.